HB 581 -- Establishment of Paternity

Sponsor:  Pratt

This bill makes various changes to the laws regarding the
putative father registry and adoption.  In its major provisions,
the bill:

(1)  States that lack of knowledge of pregnancy is not an excuse
for a putative father's failure to file with the putative father
registry in a timely manner.  However, failure to file with the
putative father registry does not waive a man's right to withhold
consent in an adoption proceeding if the man is led to believe
through the mother's misrepresentation or fraud that the mother
was not pregnant and she was; that the pregnancy was terminated
and the baby was born; or that the child died after birth and the
child is alive; and that the man satisfied the registration
requirements for the putative father registry within 15 days of
discovering the misrepresentation or fraud;

(2)  Specifies additional information that must be included in
the putative father registry publications and pamphlets currently
produced by the Department of Health and Senior Services,
including a registration card that a putative father can send in
to the registry;

(3)  Adds a $5 filing fee to petitions for adoption for the
purpose of funding the putative father registry;

(4)  Removes current law that requires the consent form for an
adoption to include a statement that the birth parent has
identified all possible fathers of the child unless the mother
has good cause not to identify a possible father; acknowledge
that those having an interest in the child have been provided all
available information to assist in locating all possible fathers;
and that the birth parent understands that if he denies paternity
but consents to the adoption, he has waived any future interest
in the child;

(5)  Removes the current requirement for service of a petition
for adoption to be made by publication on "John Doe" when the
putative father is unknown;

(6)  Requires a search of the putative father registry of
Missouri and any other state where conception may have occurred
and requires any man who has filed or been registered with the
registry to be served the petition for adoption;

(7)  Requires a statement that a man has been named as a
potential father of a child to be mailed to the last known
address of each man named in an adoption petition as a potential
father by a birth mother; and

(8)  States that any man who has engaged in sexual intercourse is
deemed to have notice that a child may be conceived as a result
of sexual intercourse.

Missouri House of Representatives
Last Updated July 25, 2003 at 10:12 am